Tick Tock, Racing Against The Clock

After my Luxury Dinner Party post, I received a few questions about preparation that I thought would make for a fun follow-up post.

Tick Tock, Racing Against The Clock

This was the first time I hosted a Thanksgiving meal and I admit I felt quite frazzled and overwhelmed at the thought of everything I had to prepare. I had flops, fails, kitchen disasters, gray hairs, long clean ups, mini breakdowns, you name it.

It wasn’t pretty.

You can think of me as your guinea pig who tested everything out for you. I’ll take one for the team if necessary!

Here is the breakdown (no pun intended) of last week and what I made on each day as I remember it, but I admit, things are a bit fuzzy. ;)

I am a strong believer in prepping ahead of time and I have nothing against making use of the freezer whenever possible.

Wednesday September 29th: DAY 1

1) I made Wedded Bliss Soft Ginger Cookies and promptly froze them. To freeze them, I double wrapped them in saran wrap and placed them into sealed containers. They were fresh as ever when I took them out on Friday.

2) I also made Fluffy Pull-Apart White Dinner Rolls. I also promptly froze them. Contrary to common belief you CAN freeze bread if wrapped very carefully! I double wrapped the entire lot (minus two that I ate!) and stuck them in the freezer and hoped for the best. I was delighted to find that when I defrosted them on the counter on Saturday afternoon they were as fresh tasting as they were when I wrapped them up.

So on Day 1, I checked off cookies and rolls. Progress.

Thursday September 30th: DAY 2

3) First, I made the Vegan gravy on Thursday. I adapted the recipe from Eat Drink & Be Vegan Cookbook. It is packed with flavour, and it’s by no means a traditional tasting gravy. After making it and allowing it to cool, I put it in a container and placed it in the fridge until Saturday. Just before serving the main course, I took the gravy out, stirred it, and heated it up for a minute or two in the microwave. Presto.

Directions:

Stir in the onion and garlic. Saute over medium heat until the onion softens, about 4 to 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the broth and all of the flour until smooth. Pour the broth/flour mixture into the pan with the onion. Stir to combine.

Stir in the tamari, nutritional yeast, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, whisking frequently, until the gravy starts to thicken. Reduce heat if necessary if the gravy starts to stick to the pot.

Once the gravy has thickened, remove it from the heat. Pour the gravy into a blender. With the lid ajar (so steam can escape), blend on low to medium speed until the gravy is smooth.

Transfer the gravy back into the pot and increase the heat to medium. Add in the salt and vinegar (if using). Keep simmering over low to medium heat until the gravy thickens to your liking. If the gravy is still too thin, whisk together 1 tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of broth in a small bowl and then whisk this into the broth. If it's too thick, thin the gravy with a touch of broth. The gravy thickens a bit as it cools.

Store cooled leftover gravy in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Tips:

* Make it soy-free: Feel free to replace the tamari with salt, and add to taste.

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Vegan Gravy

Adapted from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan.

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable broth

¼ cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp yellow mustard

1 tbsp tamari

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder

2 tbsp tahini

1.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1.5 tbsp blackstrap molasses

½ tsp agave nectar

2 tbsp olive oil

Directions: In a blender or food processor combine all ingredients and puree until smooth. In a pot on medium to high heat, add mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce to low and stir frequently to thicken. Remove from heat and serve. Add additional agave, water, or vinegar if needed to adjust taste.

4) Next I made the Cranberry Sauce which was super easy. Place in container once cool and into the fridge. Remove from fridge about 30 minutes or so before you need it. Can be served warm or cold.

Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from Eat Drink & Be Vegan.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups fresh cranberries

½ cup pure maple syrup

¼ tsp sea salt

1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)

Directions: In a pot on medium-high heat, combine the ingredients and bring mixture to a boil stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Once sauce has thickened, taste test, and add vinegar is desired. Serve warm or chilled.

5) Then I made the Twice Baked Bar Nuts! Bar nuts are awesome because you don’t have to worry about if they will stay fresh.

6) The last thing I made on Thursday was the Pumpkin Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream. Note that I didn’t frost the gingerbread with icing until Saturday. After the gingerbread cooled, I double wrapped it and yes, you guessed it, popped it into the freezer until I removed it on Saturday morning. I stored the frosting in the fridge and I took it out 1 hour before I wanted to frost the gingerbread so the frosting could come to room temperature and be easier to spread.

That concludes Thursday prep work! Luckily these recipes made up my blog material for the entire week or I wouldn’t have been able to fit it all in.

Friday October 1st: DAY 3

7) I prepped the This Ain’t Grandma’s Sweet Potato Casserole, but I did not cook it until Saturday. I simply prepped everything, put it in the casserole dish, and then popped it into the fridge. On Saturday, remove it from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature before cooking (you don’t want to crack the casserole dish from extreme temperature changes…trust me I have done it before!).

This dish was everyone’s favourite by a landslide, including mine. The kids called it ‘cake’. ;)

I also added vegan marshmallows during the last 5 mins of cooking.

8.) I prepped and pre-baked the Walnut Loaf. I didn’t cook it the entire amount of time because I knew I would be heating it up just before serving for dinner, so I cooked it about 80% and then cooked the rest of it, just before I served it on Saturday so it would be hot and crisp. This walnut loaf was good, but I would not serve it without the vegan gravy. The vegan gravy made the loaf. I also added a glaze on this loaf from the Clean Food Cookbook. This link also has a recipe for another type of Walnut Loaf that has received great reviews. I think I will try that one next time. For the recipe I made, see my document attached.

My first attempt was a bit of a fail. I also didn’t follow the steps of the recipe correctly.

Note to self: Do not tell yourself you are simply leaving the kitchen for a ‘minute’ when you have precious and vulnerable nuts in the oven. They will incinerate and a tiny piece of you will die inside.

Saturday October 2nd: THE DAY OF!

I admit, this day is a huge blur.

I got up around 6am and did not stop prepping food until my dinner guests arrived at 5:30pm. It was a long, crazy day. I strongly suggest seeking out help if you are going to tackle a Thanksgiving Dinner! After a week of squeezing in prep whenever I had free time, I was totally wiped out and had it not been for the challenge I would never have made it out alive.

As soon as I got up, I removed everything from the freezer so it could defrost…rolls, gingerbread, etc. I also removed things like the Sweet Potato Casserole and cooked potatoes from the fridge so they could come to room temperature.

Next, I baked the Pumpkin Pie Brownie in a Pecan Crust…Recipe here. I also baked the Sweet Potato Casserole, finished the mashed potatoes, prepped and roasted the veggies, and finished cooking the walnut loaf as it got close to dinner time. It was really crazy trying to time everything and what I realized is that you can never time everything perfectly. There is no such thing. At least not in my world! Just do your best and that will be good enough.

I’m not sure that’s legal in the food blog world to have that many knock out photos, delicious beyond comprehension recipes as well as a fantastic write up. I was completely transfixed on those mouth watering pictures.
Then I get to your table setting and….well, speechless. Perfect!

It really looks like the dinner party was a huge success! I especially love how you showed where some of your inspiration came from. Not everyone has to be as creative as Martha as long as they have access to her website!

This seriously looked so perfect…it’s inspired me to host a pre-Thanksgiving dinner of my own! Not sure if it will happen, but if it does, I can only hope it turns out half as well as yours did. Looks flawless!

Wowzers, who would’ve thought so much effort would need to go into one dinner party?! I always underestimate how long it all takes..o i seriously admire you! I struggle to cook one course for 3 people, let alone multiple courses…you sooo deserve to go to the next round :)

Everything looks excellent! This will be the first year I’m cooking Thanksgiving (with the BF’s help of course). We’re having an Orphan Thanksgiving — basically inviting friends over that don’t have family nearby. I hope I can pull it off! I will try these recipes for sure.

Angela, you are so amazing! What a lot of work you put in!!
I only just noticed Frank’s giant pearly-white smile – thanks for the giggle!
What a wonderful dinner party…those cupcakes make my heart skip a beat everytime I see them! Must.make.soon
Colours in your photos are gorgeous as always

You did an amazing job with the dinner party. Question: I have noticed that a lot of your recipes call for blackstrap molasses, but I really don’t like any molasses and can almost always taste it in any food that I use it in. Are there any alternatives?

You will have to ask for more help next time…though you did do a more than marvelous job on your own! I sometimes find it hard asking for help, especially when it comes to food prep…I guess I get a little protective.

You’re right that the timing can never be perfect, but a trick I use is to work backwards!

That is, if you know you are serving at 6, count backwards from there to figure out what time everything needs to go in the oven. Then use that to figure out what time you should turn ON the oven, and back and back as far as you can.

I agree with doing as much as you can in advance! I was prepping a full week in advance when I did Christmas for 21 people last year.

Ange, the blow-by-blow here was really helpful. Every time I cook multiple course meals, I worry that my timing is off. I’m always afraid the warm dishes will get cold too quickly or that I’ll muss up in the oven…I think what this really shows is that with lots of pre-planning there’s not *too* much to worry about in terms of everything coming together for a fab end result!

Thanks for the info! I think it is great that you can laugh at your kitchen mishaps. I tend to place too much pressure on myself due to underlying cooking insecurities I have, and get too upset when there are inevitable flops in the kitchen. Far better to laugh it off!

Amazing. That dinner party took a LOT of work! But it looks like it was well worth it, and you definitely had it under control :) I think I’ll make that vegan gravy for Thanksgiving this weekend- looks tasty! I made the pumpkin gingerbread yesterday, and oh my stars it is fantastic! Love it.

Frank is by far my favorite part of the dinner table :) I love his cheesy grin!

Angela this post gives me hope that maybe one day I too can host Thanksgiving at my house — and what I like is that you made stuff ahead of time — I wouldn’t want to spend one day ALL DAY in the kitchen — better to break it up to be able to take your time with each dish and make it perfect!

Last year my parents and sister went to NYC for thanksgiving. My brother had to stay in town for work and I had to stay in town to study for law school finals. We thought it would be fun to have his roommates and my boyfriend over for Thanksgiving dinner, and I had an insane idea that it would be fun for me to cook! So i did. ALL day. NO STUDYING! All the sides were made, the turkey was roasting, the bread was almost done… I went outside to let out the family dog, and then when I came back inside all those stupid boys had DUG INTO THE FOOD WITHOUT ME. I was heartbroken. I had a whole toast planned, I had a beautiful table-scape and they were eating at the counter. I burst into tears and locked myself in the bathroom. Of course they didn’t realize because they are men and there weren’t the ones slaving away in the kitchen. Its actually a really funny memory, but I will never forget to thank a host for her hard work! (and this year I’m forcing my brother to cook SOMETHING)
Long story short, I’m so proud of you for throwing such a fab dinner party :)

Love the prep work tips and tricks. Whenever possible, not just for special occasions, but for life in general, I always have things prepped in my frigde and ready to unwrap and serve, cook and serve, etc. One never knows when all of a sudden a crisis is going to unfold from 4-8pm making any kind of dinner prep just not happening and so with something sorta pre-done and waiting, it takes the pressure off. Way off. Espi when a 3 yr old is begging for dinner. I am a total pre-prepping girl…juggling work + family + high raw vegan food = plan ahead!

Thank you so much for posting your recipes! I made the apple/squash dish for guests last week and it was a huge hit – and now I have a complete Thanksgiving meal for next month. Good luck with the food challenge – you got my vote!

Wow, awesome! I loved seeing the dinner party pictures, everything looked delicious and your table setting was gorgeous, including Frank!
Thanks for sharing the recipes, I can’t wait to make that gravy, sounds fantastic!!
Ana

This has to be one of my favorite set of posts from you! You did such an amazing job, and you can tell how much time and care you put into it. I’m sure the guests appreciated all the effort. Of the entries I’ve seen for the food challenge, your’s goes WAY beyond the rest.

And thank you for putting together all the wonderful recipes. I plan to try them all (starting with the pumpkin brownies). ;)

Help help!!!! I sooo want to try these recipes but there is one problem I can’t get the
main ingredient, thats right Pumpkin, I live in Ireland and canned pumpkin is un heard of here I have asked in all the health stores and everyone looks at me as if I have two heads, heck I can’t even get a real pumpkin and I wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did. When the shops get the pumpkins in we usually just dump the filling and cut out faces :-) Please please help any suggestions would be greatly appreciated xx

Your dinner party is so thoughtful and beautiful! I have to say, the place settings might be my favorite part. There’s nothing like sitting down to a pretty table- although I rarely set one myself! And hooray for using the fancy china! :)

Just recently started following your blog – wow wow wow! Am going to attempt to make the Pumpkin Pie Brownie in a Pecan Crust – which looks like a single large pie? but it seems to just be the recipie for the individual pumkin pie brownies you have on the PDF document – I know they are very similar recipies but believe me I really need an idiot’s guide or I’ll likely mess it up :)

I, too, am interested in more details on baking the Pumpkin Brownies as a pie. The title infers that there is a crust, is that referring to the upper “crust” of crunchy pecans, or did you put a crust on the bottom. What did you use for the baking temperature and time for the pie?

I’m super hoping you get this message this weekend… anyhow, I work for a magazine in Idaho (Meridian Central Magazine) and I’ve written an article that has to do with holiday party planning. Your pictures are GORGEOUS and perfect for this article! Is there any chance that we could use some of your pictures and give you full photo credit? I would also love to reference your blog in the article for great holiday recipes. Please let me know if it would possible.

Hello!
We are slowly attempting to go vegan around here and I’ve loved your blog for years.
I am trying out your shepherds pie with this vegan gravy today! I’m wondering if you’ve ever tried making the gravy in large amounts and freezing it in batches? I’m thinking that my life would be easier if I had ready to go gravy in my freezer :). Then I could throw together a nut loaf, or whip up some mashed potatoes and there would be gravy just waiting to make it a fabulous meal!
Ok, here I go to make the gravy, I’m hoping it tastes as good as it looks!

I just hosted a Rosh Hashanah dinner and had a similar few days of on my feet from morning til night cooking and prepping before hand. Asking for help is difficult, but get it where you can. If you can’t let go of the cooking, let someone else help with the clean up or running to the dollar store, etc. My teenage daughter swept and mopped the floor…I mean REALLY thoroughly mopped the entire house. Not only did I not have to do that, but suddenly I became a hero in her eyes “How do you do this every day? It’s exhausting!” So even when you delegate, you can still come out greatly appreciated in ways you didn’t expect :-) I have to say that all of the above recipes sound amazing, but the pumpkin pie brownie…OMG! We’re still waiting for cool weather to finally arrive, but I’m going to crank up the oven tomorrow for this one! I love love love pecan pie and who in their right mind doesn’t love brownies? It’s a marriage made in culinary heaven!!! And the gravy sounds like its going to become a staple around here.

I am worn out after (speed)-reading through your Thanksgiving prep – whew!! I have done so many of these that I know very well how much work it is and how unbelievably crazed it can make you. (At the end of the day, once, I was actually crawling on hands and knees.) What’s incredible is, the “day of” tasks don’t even sound like all that much to do – and I ALWAYS think that – and yet, it takes you working ALL DAY to get that meal completed. Kudos to you, my dear. Not many people have a clue what our dear grandmothers accomplished for us year after year. :) GRATITUDE.

Your Thanksgiving menu is amazing and I can’t wait to try these recipes. I am just wondering if the recipe is correct for “This Ain’t Grandma’s Sweet Potato Casserole” as the topping calls for 1/4 cup of margarine. Margarine is not something that would normally be in your healthy recipes, and I was just wondering if it should be Earth Balance?

Hi Angela, I have been using your recipes for the past year and love them. I gave my partner your recipe to make vegan gravy and he followed it ending up with something resembling mashed potato. Could you check if 6 tablespoons of gluten free or other (e.g. brown rice) flour is correct on the recipe? He did a good job of tripling ingredients and making it more gravy like. Thanks, Fiona

Hi Fiona, I’m sorry to hear you had troubles with the recipe! Six tablespoons is correct; my best guess as to what went wrong is that it may have been the type of GF flour used. It sounds like your partner may have used brown rice flour? However, I only tested the recipe with all-purpose flour and all-purpose gluten-free flour. As well, there is quite a bit of variance among different all-purpose GF flours, so the brand used might have impacted the outcome too! I hope this helps, and that it works out a bit better next time. :)

Have you tried freezing the gravy? I would like to make it for Thanksgiving this year and it would be much easier to make it at my home the weekend before and freeze it before driving 3-hours to my parents’ on Thanksgiving Day.

I hosted Thanksgiving last year and made the gravy and even my VERY skeptical father approved!

Hey Ashley, Im so glad you love this gravy! I’m sorry I haven’t tried freezing it before, but that’s such a great idea! I’m really not sure if it would freeze okay. I would suggest freezing just a small amount first and seeing if that thaws and reheats okay before trying a whole batch.